Predictors of hospital readmissions in adult patients with sickle cell disease.

Background: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is the most common inherited blood disorder, affecting primarily Black and Hispanic individuals. In 2016, 30-day readmissions incurred 95,445 extra days of hospitalization, $152 million in total hospitalization costs, and $609 million in total hospitalization charges.

Objectives: 1) To estimate hospital readmissions within 30 days among patients with SCD in the State of California.

Rationale and design of a multicenter Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and at-risk for CKD electronic health records-based registry: CURE-CKD.

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a global public health problem, exhibiting sharp increases in incidence, prevalence, and attributable morbidity and mortality. There is a critical need to better understand the demographics, clinical characteristics, and key risk factors for CKD; and to develop platforms for testing novel interventions to improve modifiable risk factors, particularly for the CKD patients with a rapid decline in kidney function.

Methods: We describe a novel collaboration between two large healthcare systems (Providence St.

Catalyzing Implementation of Evidence-Based Interventions in Safety Net Settings: A Clinical-Community Partnership in South Los Angeles.

This study is a process evaluation of a clinical-community partnership that implemented evidence-based interventions in clinical safety net settings. Adoption and implementation of evidence-based interventions in these settings can help reduce health disparities by improving the quality of clinical preventive services in health care settings with underserved populations. A clinical-community partnership model is a possible avenue to catalyze adoption and implementation of interventions amid organizational barriers to change.

Patient education integrated with acupuncture for relief of cancer-related fatigue randomized controlled feasibility study.

Background: Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is a prominent clinical problem. There are calls for multi-modal interventions.

Methods: We assessed the feasibility of delivering patient education integrated with acupuncture for relief of CRF in a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) with breast cancer survivors using usual care as control.

Chronic Kidney Disease-A Quiet Revolution in Nephrology: Six Case Studies.

This article describes a study that examines changes in nephrology as it evolves from a focus on end-stage renal disease (ESRD) to the treatment of earlier stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Once patients reach ESRD, treatments are limited to kidney transplantation and dialysis. However, the progression of earlier stages of CKD can be slowed, halted, or reversed when treated.

High prevalence of stage 3 chronic kidney disease in older adults despite normal serum creatinine.

Background: Serum creatinine is commonly used to diagnose chronic kidney disease (CKD), but may underestimate CKD in older adults when compared with using glomerular filtration rates (eGFR). The magnitude of this underestimation is not clearly defined.

Objective: Using the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) equation, to describe both the prevalence and the magnitude of underestimation of stage 3 CKD (GFR 30-59 ml/min/1.

The neighborhood food resource environment and the health of residents with chronic conditions: the food resource environment and the health of residents.

Background: Residence in disadvantaged neighborhoods is associated with poorer access to healthy foods.

Objective: To understand associations between the neighborhood food resource environment and residents' health status and body mass index (BMI) for adults with and without chronic conditions.

Design: Cross-sectional multilevel analysis.

Characteristics of the original patient navigation programs to reduce disparities in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.

Background: Patient navigation is an intervention developed to reduce disparities in cancer care that is being widely replicated and receiving considerable support for demonstration projects and research to test its effectiveness. In the current study, the authors present an in-depth descriptive analysis of the original patient navigation programs to inform current and future program development.

Methods: A qualitative multistakeholder case study using interviews and site visits of the first patient navigation site and 2 sites subsequently developed by the leadership of the original site were evaluated.

Community-partnered approaches to enhance chronic kidney disease awareness, prevention, and early intervention.

There is a need to increase community involvement in addressing the growing burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Community-partnered participatory research (CPPR) is a collaborative approach that equitably involves academic, community, and professional partners in research, and the development of shared goals and of interventional programs to attain these goals. We present a case study of the processes, strategies, and activities concerning the interface of World Kidney Day goals and community-academic partnerships using a CPPR model focused on CKD.

Health insurance status and hypertension monitoring and control in the United States.

Background: In this study, we examined whether insurance status (private, Medicare, Medicaid, no insurance) was associated with the odds of blood pressure (BP) monitoring and control.

Methods: We used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) conducted in 1999 through 2002, defining hypertension as either self-report of elevated BP or an elevated BP value on examination. We conducted multivariate analyses adjusting for age, income, race/ethnicity, body mass index, and medical comorbidities.

Can a chronic care model collaborative reduce heart disease risk in patients with diabetes?

Background: There is a need to identify effective practical interventions to decrease cardiovascular disease risk in patients with diabetes.

Objective: We examine the impact of participation in a collaborative implementing the chronic care model (CCM) on the reduction of cardiovascular disease risk in patients with diabetes.

Design: Controlled pre- and postintervention study.

Evolving trends in medical care-coordination for patients with HIV and AIDS.

HIV/AIDS is a condition characterized by a variety of medical and social needs that affect individuals over time. System-level problems of access, rising costs of care, and varying quality of HIV/AIDS care in addition to the individual barriers to care such as stigma, perceived discrimination, competing needs, and co-morbid conditions have highlighted the importance of using comprehensive approaches to care delivery. Several types of services have been proposed to improve care coordination for various diseases, including case management, community health workers, promotoras, and patient navigators.

Racial and ethnic differences in utilization of health services in patients with diabetes enrolled in medicaid.

We evaluated racial and ethnic differences in use of medical care between patients with diabetes enrolled in Medicaid and explored whether differences varied by state Medicaid program. Using data from 137,006 patients we created a multivariable Poisson regression model to examine the effect of race on ambulatory care visits, emergency ward visits, and hospitalization rates for patients with diabetes mellitus enrolled in three state Medicaid programs. We found significant differences in service use between groups, which varied depending on state.